ENERGY Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has announced the 10 preferred bidders in the small projects renewable energy independent power producers’ programme. She made the announcement on Monday when she opened the South African International Renewable Energy Conference.

The programme is targeted at independent power producers who can roll out projects with the capacity to deliver between one and five megawatts.

“We have also been aware of creating opportunities for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in our renewable energy programme,” the minister said. “The intention is to assist small developers to gain assistance in project development, as well as in raising the necessary funding projects of this nature”

The announcement comes after Ms Joemat-Pettersson announced 13 preferred bidders in the programme’s June window bid. The 13 projects are slated to supply an additional 1‚084MW to the national grid.

The minister said that to date more than 6‚000MW had been procured from 37 renewable energy independent power producers.

“South Africa’s renewable programme is not only about electricity, but also broader empowerment. The contribution of these projects to the broader national development objectives‚ including economic development‚ social upliftment‚ job creation‚ broad-based economic empowerment and development of small and women-owned vendors‚ are a hallmark of the programme and it is these contributions that we are watching with pride‚” she said.

Adnan Amin‚ the director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency‚ said Africa had the potential to increase its generation of renewable energy from 5% to 22% by 2030. The continent’s demand increased by 80% over the past 15 years‚ he said.

Mr Amin noted that more than 600-million people across Africa remained without electricity, the biggest unelectrified population in the world. He said that figure was expected to grow to 700-million by 2030.